There are two groups of people standing around Jesus as he goes into the parable of the Prodigal God. He’s just been speaking primarily to the crowd, unspecified masses, but at the beginning of chapter 15 we see that “tax collectors and sinners were coming near to him to listen.” So here the generic people in the crowd fade into the background as a specific group makes a real effort to get close to Jesus. This is what ticks the scribes and Pharisees off--not necessarily Jesus’ teaching, but how much the losers of society were drawn to Him. Look at what they complain about at the end of verse 2: “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”
Take a look at this snapshot of Jesus' ministry real quick. There is something going on that makes sinners want to elbow themselves into the front row and the people who keep all the rules are turned off. Isn’t that the exact opposite of many of our churches today? We like things clean and scheduled. Sinners are dirty, loud, and engaging with them may delay our lunch. The religious people in Jesus’ day weren’t about to let that happen. They don’t take a page out of Jesus’ book and start to get to know some of these sinners. No! Surprisingly, it's not getting to close to sinners that killed Jesus, it was getting on the wrong side of religious folks that did him in.
Anyway, so that’s who’s standing around Jesus listening as he goes into the parables: grumpy religious folks and eager sinner folks. So Jesus tells 3 stories, the last one being the Prodigal God, about these rival groups categorized in Kellers book as “older” and “younger” brothers. Each of these stories highlight something lost, then found, then celebrated. So it’s easy to focus on the younger brother when we get to this story. But Tim makes some amazing observations about this family we’re getting such an intimate glimpse of. The most earth-shattering to me was that BOTH sons wanted the father’s stuff, but not the father himself. It’s obvious in the younger how he demands his share and leaves. But the older brother tips his hand at the end when he’s talking to the father. He was trying to get the father’s stuff through piety. He stayed because of duty, not love. He’s no more interested in having a relationship with the father than his brother was when he left for a far off country.
Keller points out that these groups represent the two most common paths to happiness people use in life: the path of self-discovery (younger brother) and the path of conformity (older brother). Surprisingly, each is an attempt to control outcomes! Neither is nobler than the other as Jesus illustrates in this story. Neither brother really loves the father more than they love the father’s things. They’re both single-mindedly after their inheritance. We see this break down in the younger as he comes to his senses in verse seventeen and decides to return and ask the father to forgive him for throwing away his wealth. He’s familiar enough with the father to know that he’ll be taken back. What a surprise then when he can’t even finish his attempt at piety and is thrown a feast! Unfortunately, we never see what the older decides to do with the father’s love. We do know that he’s offended at the extravagance of the father towards the sinful ‘son of yours.’
Sin is a lack of relationship with the Father. This is where we all find ourselves at the beginning of our lives. There are any number of religious options available to us as we progress through life, and if we’re not careful, these activities will be the extent of our relationship with God. But this story illustrates that this is not saving faith. To all of us in the church, the ball’s in our court. Will we join the feast, putting aside purely pious things and just enjoy the love of the father?
A big part of enjoying that love takes place in relationships with others in the church and in the world. Can we love our younger brothers as our father loves his children? Jesus is crying out in this story to me, an older brother, to give it up, surrender if you will, to love, to relationship with Him and my brothers, to the party. We are, I am challenged to do that by The Prodigal God.